There is much to be learned about this valuable aquarium fish (reports of captive spawns of some sand tilefish species have certainly been encouraging); clearly, the suitability of these intriguing animals for the home, and public, aquarium has yet to be fully demonstrated.

The description of this tanks sounds like a list of things not to do when setting up a reef tank: it has no live rock, no live sand, minimal filtration, no additives, the water is never tested, 100% water changes and yet this 5 gallon glass box is one of the most attractive, successful and least demanding reef tanks that I have ever set up.

Now that they have become available through normal marine aquarium supply channels, they are a potential species for home aquarists as well. While not a fish for every aquarist, they are a very colorful, hardy species that may interest the rare fish collector willing to meet its basic husbandry needs.

As predators become more adept at catching prey, the prey must find novel ways of evasion and predators that have not evolved the speed and agility posessed by their prey, they must find more stealthy methods of hunting. This has culminated in an amazing array of methods of camouflage and mimicry that has given aquarists and divers some beautiful and unusual organisms to look at.

Aquarists need to inspect their fish closely every day, for signs of impending health problems. It is much easier to resolve a problem when it first starts, than to attempt a drastic emergency treatment when the fish is close to dying.

Hopefully, as the knowledge base grows, more easily raised species will be found and protocols will be added for harder species so that the foundation's list of captive-bred species available to hobbyists will continue to grow.

Even under the best conditions, only a small percent of the eggs ejected in a spawning event will actually get fertilized, and of those that do, maybe 5% will make it through metamorphosis, or even far fewer than that.

Aquarists working with fish from this region are quickly struck with how similar some species from West Africa are to those from other regions, such as the tropical Western Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

By Kenneth Wingerter on
May 14, 2009
at 08:00 PM
(
2009-05-15T00:00:00+00:00 )

While this discussion is by no means an exhaustive list of worthy species nor a complete guide for aquarium husbandry, it is hoped that the descriptions and images of the creatures herein featured arouse a greater interest in this highly rewarding art.